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Dizziness, balance issues affect 5% of US children
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More than 5% of children and adolescents in the United States experienced issues related to dizziness and balance within the past year, according to research in the Journal of Pediatrics.
“Our findings are consistent with the limited prevalence data in other countries, and provide much-needed baseline estimates of dizziness and balance problems in U.S. children,” Howard J. Hoffman, MA, director of epidemiology and statistics at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders, said in a press release. “Dizziness and balance problems in children continue to be an understudied area, and we hope that this analysis leads to a better understanding of the scope and risk factors associated with these issues.”
The researchers examined survey results from the parents of 10,954 children and adolescents aged 3 to 17 years. Parents were asked if their child was affected by symptoms of dizziness or balance issues, such as poor coordination, light-headedness, poor balance or vertigo, within the last year. The researchers also gathered information on sociodemographics, weight, developmental delays and other health issues to examine their relationship with dizziness.
The data showed that an estimated 3.3 million children, or 5.3%, suffer from issues related to dizziness or balance. Prevalence increased with age, with 7.5% of adolescents aged 15 to 17 years affected vs. 4.1% of children aged 3 to 5 years.
Dizziness and balance problems were more prevalent among girls than boys (5.7% vs. 5%). Non-Hispanic white children also made up a larger portion of those with dizziness and balance problems (6.1%) compared with Hispanics (4.6%) and black (4.3%) children.
Study results indicated that 36% of children who experienced dizziness or balance problems visited a physician, with 29.9% receiving treatment in the past year. Of the 18.6% of children who suffered from moderate or serious dizziness, 71.6% had seen a physician, and 62.4% received treatment.
The researchers noted that headaches and migraines in the past 12 months were significantly associated with dizziness and balance issues among study patients (adjusted OR = 5.5; 95% CI, 4.2-7.3). Other associated conditions included seizure disorders (aOR = 9.6; 95% CI, 4.5-20.4) and hearing difficulty (aOR = 4.8; 95% CI, 3-7.7).
“Although dizziness and balance problems are common … the epidemiology of dizziness and balance problems in children is poorly understood,” Hoffman and colleagues wrote. “The risk factors identified provide useful epidemiologic information about dizziness and balance problems in children and will be used in tracking the Healthy People 2020 goal to increase utilization of health care services for these children.” – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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